Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) has accused the Presidential Commission on Missing Persons of being biased, with its members trying to get statements from victims which would shore up the image of government presently accused of  having committed “war crimes”.

In a recent statement after attending the commission's sittings in the north, the CPA has questioned the proceedings of the Commission on three main areas including poor translations, victims and witness protection and line of questioning.

“The commissioners posed leading questions to those providing testimony. This implies bias and could lead to influencing testimony and subsequent findings,” the CPA has said.

While most witnesses did say that the initial abduction was done by the LTTE (mainly in cases from 2008 onwards), “disappearances” as such had occurred later, in the final days of the war, when there was heavy fighting and many persons had surrendered to the army or where taken in by the army for questioning. The panel reportedly appeared to be sidestepping this aspect, CPA states.

According to the statement, the translator added to the bias by repeatedly questioning the witnesses on the same matter in an authoritarian manner. Thrown off balance, many witnesses backed out from their earlier statements and said: “We don’t know”, to please the panel.

The CPA charged that at the hearing on September 29 at Pooneryn, persons identifying themselves as military intelligence attended the sittings and photographed persons waiting to give testimony. There were also several military personnel outside the venue, all of which could have intimidated the witnesses, it has added. “Lack of genuine steps at this juncture will severely undermine efforts to arrive at truth, justice, accountability and reconciliation in SL,” CPA has warned.